Process Control System and Method

1. A computer-implemented method of controlling a process for producing product within a range of at least one specification and product that are not within the range of at least one specification, the process having at least one input and at least one output that is affected by variation in at least one input, the method comprising: calculating the marginal revenue of producing one or more product within range of the at least one specification, one more product outside of the range of the at least one specification, and a variation about a mean of at least one measured variable of the at least one input and the at least one output; and varying the at least one input about the mean of at least one specification of the at least one measured variable so that the at least one output affected by the at least one input is optimized to where the marginal revenue of producing one more product within the at least one specification range is substantially equal to the marginal cost of producing one more product outside the at least one specification range.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining the relationship of input variable change to rate of defects.

3. A method of optimizing a process having at least one output that varies in response to variation of at least one input, the method comprising: determining variables of at least one input and at least one output to measure; measuring the variables of the at least one input and the at least one output while the variables are adjusted in the course of performing the process; calculating variation of the mean and variation about the mean for each of the measured variables of the at least one input and the at least one output; determining an adjustment in the variables in the at least one input required to bring the mean of the variables in the at least one output within a target value range; calculating the marginal cost of making one more product outside a specification range that is equal to the marginal revenue from making one more product within a specification range; and adjusting the variables in the at least one input to achieve an optimum setpoint of at least one selected variable of the at least one input so that the marginal cost of the making one more product outside the specification range equals the marginal revenue of making one more product within the specification range.

4. A method of optimizing a manufacturing process, comprising: providing a plurality of components configured to be assembled together into a single unit; measuring the plurality of components to identify components that are under a specification range and over the specification range; and assemb 1 ing components that are under the specification range to components that are over the specification range to achieve a single unit that is within the specification range.

5. A manufacturing process, comprising: providing first subcomponents that are under a mean tolerance and second components that are over a mean tolerance; and assembling the first subcomponent that is under the mean tolerance with the second subcomponent that is over the mean tolerance to achieve a component formed of the first and second subcomponents that is at the mean tolerance.

6. The process of claim 5 , wherein the first subcomponent is under the mean tolerance to the same degree that the second subcomponent is over the mean tolerance.

7. A method for controlling a process having one or more inputs and one or more outputs where outputs represent characteristics and definition of the product, and inputs are materials and process operations that produce outputs, the method comprising: identifying at least one output and corresponding inputs that when varied affect the output; measuring the identified at least one output and corresponding inputs; determining a variation of a mean and a variation about the mean for each of the at least one output and inputs; and determining an optimum value of the corresponding inputs to control the at least one input to a target point that represents where the marginal cost of producing one more defective product equals the marginal profit of producing one more non-defective product.

8. A method for controlling a process to produce acceptable product, comprising: adjusting a process input about a mean of measurements of the process input to the point where the marginal cost of producing one more unit of defective product is equal to the marginal revenue from producing one more unit of non-defective product.

9. A computer-implemented method of optimizing a process having inputs and producing outputs in accordance with specifications, comprising: measuring the inputs and outputs and saving measurement data obtained therefrom; determining U of and U abt from the measurement data; determining causes of U of ; and controlling the causes of U of to shift U of to match U abt data values whereby a total cost of producing one more output outside of specification equals the total revenue of producing one more output that is within specification; where U of is variation of a mean and U abt is variation about a mean of the measurement date.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising: determining the relationship between output defect rate and selected variables of at least one input; modeling the relationship; and solving for optimum set point of the selected variables of the at least one input.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein solving for optimum set point comprises utilizing functions for input variation, output defect rate, revenue, and cost.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein controlling U of comprises adjusting inputs.

13. A method of solving for changes in multiple input variables so that the combination of input changes results in an optimization of output, comprising: solving for a combination of input changes that optimizes output based on defect rates, cost and selling price by first solving for changes in individual inputs and the resulting change in output based on defect rate, cost and selling price, and then solving the changes in the individual inputs simultaneously to arrive at a set of optimum input and output target set-points whereby a marginal cost of producing one more output outside of specification equals the marginal revenue of producing one more output that is within specification.

14. A computer-implemented method, comprising: reducing input variables to produce a process set point of a product such that the marginal revenue from producing one more product within specification is equal to the cost of producing one more product outside of specification.

15. A computer implemented method of determining total process variation for each input and output variable, comprising calculating total variation that is composed of variation of the mean and variation about the mean; adjusting at least one process input variable so that variation of the mean is equal to zero; and adjusting remaining variation that is made up entirely of variation about the mean, which is used as a component in the computer implementation of a process set point such that marginal revenue from producing one more product within a range of at least one specification is equal to a marginal cost of producing one more product outside of the range of at least one specification.